Generalized quantum geometric tensor for excited states using the path integral approach

Abstract: The quantum geometric tensor, composed of the quantum metric tensor and Berry curvature, fully encodes the parameter space geometry of a physical system. We first provide a formulation of the quantum geometrical tensor in the path integral formalism that can handle both the ground and excited states, making it useful to characterize excited state quantum phase transitions (ESQPT). In this setting, we also generalize the quantum geometric tensor to incorporate variations of the system parameters and the phase-space coordinates. This gives rise to an alternative approach to the quantum covariance matrix, from which we can get information about the quantum entanglement of Gaussian states through tools such as purity and von Neumann entropy. Second, we demonstrate the equivalence between the formulation of the quantum geometric tensor in the path integral formalism and other existing methods. Furthermore, we explore the geometric properties of the generalized quantum metric tensor in depth by calculating the Ricci tensor and scalar curvature for several quantum systems, providing insight into this geometric information.